Breakdown of Fyrst þarftu að þrífa fiskabúrið vel.
þú
you
vel
well
að
to (infinitive marker)
þurfa
to need
þrífa
to clean
fyrst
first (adverb)
fiskabúrið
the aquarium
Questions & Answers about Fyrst þarftu að þrífa fiskabúrið vel.
Since this lesson is about dropping the dummy word það, why isn't it dropped or used here? For example, could we say Fyrst þarf það að þrífa?
There is no dummy það to drop here because the sentence has a real subject: þú (you), which is attached to the verb as -tu. The dummy það is only used in impersonal sentences, like Það þarf að þrífa (It is necessary to clean). If we started that impersonal sentence with Fyrst, the það would indeed drop due to the inversion, becoming Fyrst þarf að þrífa. But because our sentence specifies who needs to do the cleaning, we just use the normal personal subject.
Why are the verb and subject combined into þarftu instead of written as þarft þú?
Starting the sentence with the adverb Fyrst triggers the V2 (verb-second) rule, forcing the verb þarft to come before the subject þú. When þú directly follows a verb, it almost always merges onto the end of it in spoken Icelandic, and this is frequently written out as an enclitic (like þarftu, ertu, or viltu). Writing Fyrst þarft þú would sound unusually formal or emphatic.
How is the compound noun fiskabúrið formed?
It is made of fiskur (fish) and búr (cage, enclosure, or tank), capped with the neuter definite article -ið. Notice that the first part is fiska-, which is the genitive (possessive) plural form of fiskur. Compound words in Icelandic very often use the genitive case for their first element, so it literally means 'the tank of fishes'.
Why doesn't fiskabúrið change its ending even though it is the direct object of the verb að þrífa (to clean)?
The verb þrífa does require the accusative case, but búr is a neuter noun. In Icelandic, all neuter words have the exact same form in both the nominative (subject) and accusative (direct object) cases. Therefore, fiskabúrið is indeed in the accusative here, it just looks identical to its dictionary form.
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